Champagne A Lorange Recipes

GATEAU A L'ORANGE

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Beat the sugar and butter together until creamy. Beat in the eggs. Sift the flour and baking powder over the mixture and fold them in lightly.
• Grate the zest of the orange and squeeze out the juice. Stir zest, juice, and Cointreau into the batter. Then grease a 5-cup bread pan and spoon in the batter. Knock the pan against the countertop to settle the contents. Bake for about 50 minutes, until the cake is firm but bouncy to the touch and the blade of a knife inserted into it comes out clean. Leave it to cool for 10 to 15 minutes, then unmold onto a dish.
• Meanwhile, prepare the glazing. In a small saucepan, gently warm the orange juice and Cointreau. Stir in the confectioners' sugar.
• Using a pastry brush, paint the glaze over the cake--some of the glaze will seep in, the rest will form a light crust. Serve cold.

CLASSIC DUCK A L'ORANGE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.
• Roughly chop the orange rinds after juicing and place in the cleaned duck cavity. Place the stuffed duck on a baking rack over a baking sheet with 1/2-inch of water. Bake until skin turns golden brown and lightly crisps, about 30 minutes. Reduce temperature to 300 degrees and continue cooking until duck reaches an internal temperature of 170 degrees, about 1 hour.
• In a medium heavy saucepan combine the orange juice, zest and sugar over medium high heat and reduce nearly 3/4 in volume, to about 3/4 cup. Add bitters to orange juice gastrique, and set aside. Place duck stock in clean saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Add hot stock to reduced orange gastrique, and continue to simmer over medium low heat for 10 minutes to make sauce.
• Remove duck from roasting pan and discard drippings in bottom of pan. Return duck to roasting pan and place pan over 2 burners over medium high heat. Add orange liqueur to pan and cook off the alcohol, scraping the pan continuously with a large wooden spoon. Add 1 cup of the orange sauce to the roasting pan and cook 1 minute. Remove duck from the pan and discard orange rinds in cavity. Place duck on serving platter and let sit 10 minutes before carving. Combine roasting pan juices and orange sauce in a gravy boat and serve with carved duck.

CHAMPAGNE ORANGES

Steps:

• Combine the marmalade and sugar in a small saucepan. Mix well, place over low heat and cook, stirring, until the sugar dissolves.
• Cut the peel from the oranges, cut into slices and then quarter each slice, removing the white center pith from each. Put into a medium bowl.
• Pour the sugar/marmalade mixture and Champagne or grape juice over the sliced oranges. Refrigerate for 8 hours.
• Sprinkle with almonds before serving and add a sprig of mint.

CLASSIC CHAMPAGNE COCKTAIL

Steps:

• Soak the sugar cube in Angostura bitters and drop into a champagne flute. Top with a luxury champagne or a sparkling wine. Garnish with a lemon or orange twist.